


Cup of Enlightenment

by Chaos_Silk (CrimsonChaos)



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Tea
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-04 10:12:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4133664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonChaos/pseuds/Chaos_Silk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A journey told through tea. (The tale of FF7 retold from Cid's point of view, focusing on what's really important) Giftfic for ALynnL.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Disc 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ALynnL](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=ALynnL).



> For Sue (ALynnl), who is wonderful and deserves so much more. She wanted Cid and his goddamn tea, so she gets Cid and his goddamn tea. I make no apologies for the swearing, that's all on Cid. I'm from the south-eastern part of the US, iced tea is a big deal here -my family has their own secret recipe-, so I've passed a bit of this onto Cid.

Cid's journey begins, as all good things in life should, with a proper glass of tea. It is thicker than mud and sweeter than sin, almost exactly like his grandmother used to make. A ice-filled glass of this on a hot day is a little slice of heaven, one that he willingly shares with anyone that comes to visit -another thing passed down by his grandmother: proper hospitality-.

On that fateful day his guests were people from Shinra, only one of whom took a glass -Palmer, that fat idiot-, and some idiots who wandered in without having the decency to knock, blathering on about shit Cid didn't give a fuck about and, more importantly, not sitting down and drinking their goddamn tea like a good guest should. The latter served as a distraction from the former. Part of him knew that the new President had no intention of reviving the Space program, but a man could dream, couldn't he?

* * *

They drifted for hours in the open ocean, long enough for Cid to learn that these people never shut the fuck up. It was an endless stream of chatter that he couldn't muster the energy to listen to. By the end of the lecture about saving the planet -newsflash: Cid didn't fucking care- and something about being in Sephiroth's anti-fanclub, he was so desperate for silence he did something he had sworn he would never do.

"Y'all are making me need a fucking drink," he swore at them, maneuvering so he could get at the emergency supplies stashed away in the Tiny Bronco. He pulled out a bottle of purified water and then dug around for the sealed container Shera had insisted on putting there in case he ever crash landed. He opened it and poured a little of the powder into the bottle, frowned at it, then poured about twice as much as the initial amount. He put the cap back on the bottle and gave it a good shake before taking a drink.

He made a face at the taste. It was a pale, but passable, imitation of his normal tea, which made it acceptable to keep drinking, but he hated himself for it. Somewhere out there, his grandmother was preparing a wooden spoon for his behind because what proper person drank instant anything?

His newly acquired cohorts exchanged a look. "So, when you said you needed a drink, you meant tea?" The wannabe-ninja asked, looking like she had a firework shoved up her ass. Cid snorted at her.

"What the fuck else?" He took another sip of his fake-tea, scowling the entire time.

* * *

Wutai was hot and confusing, not even the food tasted right. The tea they served was nice and strong even if it was served in a funny-looking cup. The waitress gave him a funny look when he asked for a pot of sugar and then promptly dumped half of it in his cup as soon as she handed it to him. He didn't care, after that, it was perfect.

Perfect enough to ignore the fact that the Turks had just walked through the door. Tea like that deserved his full attention.

* * *

There was a special place in hell reserved for whoever was in charge of making the tea at Golden Saucer. Cid had nothing against fruit, as long as it was fucking fruit and not masquerading as his goddamn tea. This wasn't even counting the fact that it was saturated with so much sugar, it might as well have been served as fucking syrup for pancakes instead.

It made him mad enough to forget whether or not the rest of the party fucking knew that Reeve's stupid goddamn robot was traveling with them.

* * *

The temple of ancients was destroyed and Reeve was shipping another Cait Sith to them. During this small break, with Aerith's assistance Cid had found that the weeds growing around the temple made an acceptable tea-substitute and had brewed a pot, intending to drink it all himself. One look at Cloud's face changed that.

With a sigh, he pulled the second cup, well-worn and matching the battered tin teapot he had kept in the Tiny Bronco, filled it up and pushed it into the blonde's hand. "Don't let that fucker mess with your head any more than he already has." He warned, feeling simultaneously too damn old and too damn young to be dealing with this bullshit.

* * *

Bone Village didn't have proper tea either, instead it was wussy herbal shit that scalded Cid's tongue and made him want to punch the foreman in the face. So he did and the workers rewarded him with a mop -he didn't understand that fucking shit either-. They had to stay another night to find the Lunar Harp, but Cid thought it was worth it.

* * *

There were more of the weeds scattered all throughout the City of Ancients, but Cid didn't feel like harvesting them. The battle was over and they had scattered to rest, but Cid found he couldn't even think of tea at a time like this. No one was quite sure what to say -she was gone- and they all wandered about, trying to make sense of it all.

Cid was the second-to-last to return to the campfire and was pleasantly surprised to find the his teapot was already hung over the fire, an earsplitting whistle ringing out just as he nudged the cat-wolf over and took a seat. Tits Mcgee smiled at him, passing him his tin cup already filled with piping hot tea.

"I thought we could all do with a drink," she said softly to him, before making her way around the campfire, handing each party member a cup scavenged from the city. Cid huffed at her, blowing on his drink before taking a long sip.

"It's about time somebody had some goddamn sense." He muttered, finding it sweetened to his taste. He watched silently, enjoying his properly brewed drink as Cloud finally wandered back, looking like he was lost in his own little world. Tita -Wasn't that her name?- pushed a cup into his hand -tin, the mate of Cid's own, when had that become Cloud's cup?-, and urged him to take a seat.

As they drank together, Aerith's tea warming their bellies even as her absence chilled their hearts, Cid felt that maybe they were going to be alright.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said that I was going to arrange the chapters by disc, but that seemed like a good place to end it, so... Yes, here it is.

When people think about drinking in snowy areas, they think hot chocolate, they think mint-flavor and sweets. What Cid thinks is that he will never get the taste of mint out of his mouth after accidentally ordering the local special. It did warm him up though, which was the only thing that spared the inn worker from receiving a scathing lecture on the importance of serving proper tea when someone asked for it, not this shit masquerading as tea.

He was beginning to notice a trend when it came to tea and the northern continent and he wasn't sure he liked it. As he stepped out the door, out into the cold, he lit a cigarette and took a puff then immediately gagged as the aftertaste of mint combined with the taste of his smoke. He glared at his cigarette like it had betrayed them and reconsidered turning around and giving his server what-for. No one should ever drink mint tea that was that strong.

Before he could turn around on his heel and dish out the scolding they so clearly deserved, a blur of blue, white and blonde went rolling down the hill, right through where he would have been if he hadn't stopped to cough. A couple of Shinra infantry soldiers followed behind the blur, shouting and waving. A glance at the top of the hill revealed blondie standing there with a dumbstruck look on his face.

Cid could put two and two together.

He gave him a thumbs up and kept walking.

* * *

By mutual agreement, they never speak of what happened on the glacier. Only that it was a thing that happened and they all should move on.

To this day, Cid would tell anyone who asks that the entire thing is too fucking stupid to comprehend and that they should stop fucking asking unless they want his goddamn spear up their ass.

Only one person has ever dared to ask.

(The truth is that the Glacier is lacking in both tea and cigarettes and Cid required both to be civil to anyone. If he wasn't happy, no one was going to be.)

* * *

For entirely different reasons, no one ever talks about what happened in the crater either.

* * *

On the way to Junon, Cid and Rufus had a little chat. Names were called, creative swears and chairs were thrown about, but in the end, Cid sat down and listened because the man might be an evil dictator hell-bent on ruling the world -and also the brat he used to baby-sit from time to time when he was rising in the ranks- but he served some damn good tea. He also knew what Cid had learned already.

AVALANCHE was going to do whatever the fuck they wanted to, no matter what obstacle was in their way. They had tasted loss and they didn't like it. Cid didn't bother wondering when he became a part the band of idiots he was tagging along with, instead focused on Rufus and his damn smirk, taking a drag from his cigarette as he considered his offer.

"Shinra," he began, savoring his next words as he cut through the bullshit Rufus was spouting about saving the planet and not making a nuisance of himself, "Get the fuck off my ship."

It's as close to agreement as he would allow himself to get. Rufus had drawn the line when he took his airship and then tried to take his baby and he fucking knew it. The asshole looked at him, gliding to his feet in one smooth movement.

"You haven't changed." The bastard shot at him as he left the room and hopefully the god damn ship. Cid snorted, taking another drag of his cigarette and blowing out a cloud of smoke. He stubbed the remainder out in the ash-tray.

"I've changed e-fucking-nough." He said to no one, thinking of water and flowers, a warm smile even as her life faded out. He might not be doing it for the same reasons, he might not even give a damn about the planet, but like hell he was going to let that little girl's death be in vain.

* * *

Cid sat in his quarters, staring at the empty tin cup he had set on the table as he drank from its mate. Shinra's drama was playing out, Tifa's life was on the line and he was waiting for a goddamn chance to do the right thing. His team was with him, like they had been before, no questions asked.

He was stealing his own goddamn airship. For something he didn't believe in. He took a swallow of his tea, glaring at the cup as the intercom crackled and started spouting off some nonsense about sea monsters and rescuing someone off the goddamn Junon cannon.

"You had better be alright," he snapped at it as if its owner were sitting there instead. "Or I'll fucking kill you myself." Then he turned around and went out to save the day.


End file.
